III.

But before Kai would get a chance to bake the next morning, they all had to pack up and head for the studio for another recording. During break (which Kai prolonged by half an hour for everbody’s sake) he strolled across the street into a convivi store. While determinately walking along the isle in search for all the prime ingredients which he would need he also dropped a couple of sweets into his basket, so his colleagues would stop the arguing, the threatening and the stomping. There was a moment this morning when Kai thought they would have to bail Ruki out of jail because he seriously looked like bashing someones head in with his mic-stand. Fortunately, or unfortunately (depends on the point of view) he discovered he could do more harm by innocently getting the everybody entangled in the cord. Aoi was the one who got tangled up first. His feed were caught in the wire and he hell toward Uruha and both crashed to the floor. Aoi who had not recovered from the fall he suffered yesterday, was more than willing to give the Vocalist a proper beating but after some anger management by Uruha had gone for colourful swearing that made even Reita’s ears turn pink. Kai sighed. It was such a mess and he was to preoccupied by his detective work and personal revenge plan that he could not concentrate on getting everybody back on track.

He grabbed flour, sugar, cacao, high priced dark chocolate with ginger, eggs, rich cream milk and butter. He briefly considered caramel sauce, marshmallows, white chocolate and sweet plums but decided to stick to the original plan of making simple double chocolate cookies. While walking towards the cashier he passed the pharmaceuticals. He came to a sudden stop. A woman walked past him, shaking her head in disapproval “Don’t stand in the way like that!” But Kai never heard her. A plan was forming in the drummers sugar depleted mind. It was a scheme which would also make him eligible as nominee for the position of “world’s evil mastermind”. His thoughts were already racing: Maybe I could…? But I shouldn’t! Yet if I think about it like this…On the other hand what if…? Who would know? But I really ought not to…No one would have to know… I would know! Anyhow I might finally unmask the thief! This final argument tipped the scale. So he added a bottle of perfectly innocent looking pills to his cart. While he finished his shopping and returned to the studio he aimed for an inconspicuous stroll.

Once back at the company, he headed for the studio only to encounter the following scene in an dimly lit side corridor. Aoi had pushed Uruha up against the far wall and looked threateningly determined. Their faces were so close, it seemed the dark haired guitarist was ready to throttle the blonde at any moment. Kai felt like, he was observing a robbery in a shabby alley in one of the less glamorous parts of town. He tensed. He seriously needed to get his colleagues into anger management. With Aoi still furious from the situation earlier, Kai dared not imagine what kind of trivial tittle-tattle on Uruha’s part had driven the dark haired musician to go berserk in an empty corridor.

“Oy! You two! Cut it out!” He walked over and got a hold of Aoi’s ear and pulled him off of Uruha.

“AHH~”

“How about you take a walk? There is some time left before we resume recording- go cool down!”

“Kai…”

“I don’t even want to hear what happened. Get out before I lose my patience!” He let go of Aoi’s ear and pointed towards the exit. “Out! now!”

The disgruntled guitarist left, still rubbing his ear.

Kai sighed. Really, the longer this whole cookie enigma took the more his band’s well being was at stake. He patted Uruha on the shoulder “ ’You alright? Seriously why did you have to provoke him? Aren’t we having enough hard times as it is?”

The blonde looked up “I didn’t…”

“Whatever. I brought some snacks. If we finish in time today I’ll make cookies tonight. That should be a reward everybody looks forward to, right? Maybe I can even persuade you to perform at least once without an interruption.”

He his heels and walked back to the studio, leaving the Uruha behind who remained standing in the corridor somewhat at a loss of what to do with himself. Unfortunately once Kai opened the door to the recording studio he had to face an even more heated scene. Ruki had finally decided to go physical and was currently fencing off Reita with his music stand. The sheet music was flying around everywhere and sailing across the room. The drummer groaned, while the bassist was trying to advance on the vocalist, to find a flaw in Ruki’s defense. Kai massaged his temples.

“What is this? National Idiot day? Give me strength!” a little louder he said “Will you stop it already!”

He grabbed the threateningly swinging music stand from Ruki.

“What did you all do, wake up this morning and say, "Today, I'm going to ruin a man's life?” Sweet lord… you are the nails in my coffin… No don’t you dare!”

Reita had inched passed Kai towards Ruki but Kai quickly intersected his path and hooked a finger in the blondes shirt to stop him.

“Can’t I leave you all alone for even half an hour?”

Ruki pointed at Reita with an expression of utter disbelieve plastered across his usually handsome features. A second later it was replaced by raging fury.

“The bastard, he…!”

“Hold it right there. I really don’t care who started this. I am ending it right now! I won’t hear another word. You are adults, settle your disputes like grown ups. I don’t want to see anymore of the shouting and the.. the.. attacking. Seriously what is it with the physical altercations today?” He continued to repeat his baking proposal and the atmosphere brightened considerably.

Seemingly the prospect of receiving some of Kai’s treats was enough to get everybody to concentrate. Though Uruha kept looking at Aoi and avoiding the other guitarist as though afraid of being punched at any moment, luckily nothing happened. Everybody was relieved when the clock struck 7 pm and they had finished the day’s work. Most astonishingly, they had actually made some progress for a change.

“Well done, everybody! Thanks for working so hard!” It was a compliment he hadn’t paid them in a while so naturally all members were grateful. Even Uruha smiled despite the penetrating stares he received from Aoi. Kai shot them a glance that could be interpreted along the lines of I don’t care what is going on, but I want this resolved by tomorrow!

“Let’s wrap it up and go home!”

Indeed, when Kai came out from the shower he didn’t even bother to dry his hair properly. He just tied the wet strands up into a tiny, sloppy ponytail and got to work in the kitchen. Within minutes his black apron was covered in thin layer white flour dust. The feeling of soft dough between his fingers and the skilled and routinised moves of his slender fingers kneading it made him relaxed and as happy as he hasn’t been in a while. Reita had given Kai a mixer and dough hooks for his birthday, but the drummer never used them. At least not for pastry making. He enjoyed the craftsmanship of preparing the cookie dough. There was something about the velvety feel of the dough that just made him smile. His friends once asked him how he managed to keep the dough from taking on a sticky consistency, but he had only remarked upon the right ratio of ingredients and love for the dough. Respect the dough!

While the others took their turns in the bathroom or were otherwise preoccupied Kai pulled the wee bottle of pills from his pocket and stared at it. Now I will catch the little bugger! With grim determination he unscrewed the lid and cast aside his doubts. A handful of pills rolled across the counter before Kai gathered them up and ground them into a fine powder. Hastily he mixed it with a part of the dough which he had set aside, before his conscience could sway his decision. By the time he had added cacao and chocolate sprinkles the size of chunks everybody had joined him in the kitchen.

“Are they done yet?” asked Ruki.

“How old are you? Like 5 years old?” Uruha . He mimicked a child’s voice “Mommy are we there yet? Are the cookies done yet? Can I have an ice cream?”

Ruki’s eyes narrowed to slits.

“Don’t you start again!” The drummer knocked their heads together. This left the two squabblers with a head ache as well some flour in the hair.

“The dough has to settle a little. I am hungry and since you all did a good job today I’ll treat you for supper. Once we get back I’ll put the cookies in the oven.” This declaration was met with general enthusiasm.

“I know just the place!” Reita said beaming “There is this new restaurant just down the road! It opened last week. I walk past it all the time and am really curious.”

They returned late, but exhilarated. Everybody slumped onto the sofas in the living room. In the meantime Kai proceeded to form small cookie shaped disks of dough and pushed to full sets of them into the oven. Soon after, the smell of cookies wavered through the flat.

Once the timer rang, Kai raced into the kitchen to set aside some cookies for himself and to refill his cookie jar. He had hardly stacked away the cookies and retrieved the second griddle of still hot treats from the oven when his friends approached him. The look of pure ravenousness on their faces frightened the drummer to the core. He retreated slowly until his back was pushed against the counter. They had him cornered in an instant. He looked rather like a deer, circled by a starving pack of hyenas. And indeed right now, all four of them seemed to match the description of a chocolate craving cookie thief. “Easy boys…!”

Within minutes there were only crumbs left. Kai had not even had a single one of the biscuits for himself. He couldn’t believe it. So much effort and I did not even have a single bite. You got to be kidding me! What the hell did just happen? Where did the cookies go? Where are my cookies? I’ve been robbed again! Before my very eyes! Disappeared. Vanished inside these voracious vultures. He felt his anger rise, when he looked at their content faces. It only added to his rage, that there was a whole bunch of cookies in his room which he could not touch, due to them being…well…spiked. Currently Aoi was off his fingers and picking up the crumbs with his wet fingertips. Uruha started coughing wildly and turned away hurriedly while Reita was clapping his back. Kai’s eyes narrowed to slits. Serves you right! To eat so fast that crumbs got down your windpipe!Ruki lifted his head, the look on his face reflected utter satisfaction, and asked seductively

“Kai, what happened to that second griddle of cookies?” His voice was slightly slurred from drinking too much beer at the restaurant. “I know there was more!”

Kai raised an eyebrow “Oh? Is that so? It’s a shame. They were burnt. No good at all.” he answered nonchalantly. This lie was just obvious enough for his friends to see through it if they wanted to. And it was exactly was Kai was counting on. So the thief would come out of hiding and go looking for the cookies. If he hadn’t been so mad at this moment because of the fact the he still had had no cookies he would have been more eager to see his plan unfold. As it was, he was terribly angry. His wrath was limitless. And finally he could no longer contain it.

“I break up your fights, I treat you for supper, I make you cookies…” he started advancing on his friends. “…and still you show no regard! Did any of you notice that I did not get so much as a bite of my own cookies?!” He raised the griddle he was still holding with his oven gloved hands.

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